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Individual/Family Health

Insurance Mergers and Network Shrinkage Hurts Consumers

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I have a good friend who is seven months pregnant with her first child. Her employer-sponsored health insurance is with PacifiCare, which recently merged with United HealthCare. Ever since her first prenatal visit in April, she has been seeing a nurse-midwife and an OB/GYN with whom she feels very comfortable. She had planned to deliver… Read more about Insurance Mergers and Network Shrinkage Hurts Consumers

HSA Usage

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A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that out of all the people with job related health insurance, only 4 percent are enrolled in an HSA qualified plan. “We don’t know yet whether workers and employers ultimately will embrace consumer-driven health plans in big numbers, but it certainly hasn’t been a tidal wave,” study co-author Gary… Read more about HSA Usage

Small Victory

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Yesterday, we commented on the story of Jerry Ansley, who got the $2.5M mosquito bite and was about to lose everything because he had MidWest National as his health insurance company.  Well, Jerry got a small victory today because he will get to keep his house.  UNC Hospitals said it will give up its claim… Read more about Small Victory

Humana Extends Contract with HCA-HealthONE in Colorado Through 2008

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Good news for our clients with Humana health insurance. After it seemed that HCA was handing out unreasonable rate increases, Humana Inc. HUM announced today that its existing contract with HCA-HealthONE hospital and ancillary facilities has been extended from June 1, 2007 through May 31, 2008 for all Humana members throughout Colorado. “We have forged… Read more about Humana Extends Contract with HCA-HealthONE in Colorado Through 2008

Wal-Mart Health Insurance Not That Bad

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Let me preface this post by saying that I am usually not too impressed with Wal-Mart. I think that their lowest-price-at-any-cost strategy is not the best long-range plan in terms of caring for our Earth and its inhabitants. The Wal-Mart news of the day is about their new super-low priced generic drug program. The news… Read more about Wal-Mart Health Insurance Not That Bad

Sending the Wrong Message To Our Kids About Health Insurance

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Recently, several states have passed laws increasing the age that children can stay on their parents’ health insurance policy.  The reasoning behind the change is sound: these days, it’s not as easy to get a job with health benefits as it used to be, since fewer employers offer coverage to employees.  So allowing young adults to remain on… Read more about Sending the Wrong Message To Our Kids About Health Insurance

Grand Rounds 2.52

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Tundra Medicine Dreams has posted the most beautiful Grand Rounds I’ve ever seen.  It’s a great collection of healthcare related blog posts and includes Louise’s article on ultrasounds. Among some of my favorites: Tara Smith of Aetiology discusses the recent E. coli outbreak from packaged spinach, a recent study on the association between diet and Alzheimer’s at the… Read more about Grand Rounds 2.52

Preventative Care on Individual Health Insurance

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We’ve all heard the adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, yet it often seems that most people ignore this advice.  Otherwise people would not be dying from smoking-related cancers and the plethora of illnesses caused by obesity.  It’s easy to say that these are personal problems and that people… Read more about Preventative Care on Individual Health Insurance

End of an Era

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Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado has come out with new non-group health insurance applications.  On the previous applications, they only requested medical history information from the previous 5 years.  This week, they increased that amount of time to 10 years “so the underwriting department can appropriately assess risk for certain medical conditions.”  Now,… Read more about End of an Era

To Make a Short Story Long

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In my last post, I discussed a survey from the Commonwealth Fund.  It found that 89% of people who’ve sought health insurance in the last 3 years weren’t able to get anything – most of them couldn’t afford the premiums.  I thought this sounded a little funny. America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) shows conflicting information based on detailed… Read more about To Make a Short Story Long

Do We Expect Too Much from Health Insurance?

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A recent study reports that out of 1,878 people age 19 to 64 polled by telephone, 89% of those who were seeking to buy health insurance in the last 3 years did not do so. “One in five people were turned down or charged a higher premium for individual insurance because of an existing medical condition…. Read more about Do We Expect Too Much from Health Insurance?

Why We Don’t Sell Discount Health Plans

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A good reason that I sell health insurance for all of the top carriers in Colorado is because I’m not a very good “salesperson”.  I understand the in’s and out’s of all of the different plans and all of the variables affecting coverage like stability of the companies, underwriting, and how they do rate increases. … Read more about Why We Don’t Sell Discount Health Plans

Health Insurance – Another Reason to Quit Smoking

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In case you needed another reason to ditch your ashtray… Did you know that smokers pay more for their health insurance than non-smokers, if they have to get an individual/family policy? If you’re currently covered on a group plan through your employer, you may not have given this much thought over the years. But what… Read more about Health Insurance – Another Reason to Quit Smoking